Planetes has reached that point near the end now where the cliffhangers are painful, the story just one inch away from slipping over the edge into the great unknown. Anime has a love affair with the "happy" ending - even when it's not fitting - so I'm left to expect the story will find a way to make everything work out in the end. But some shows surprise, and I would consider Planetes to be of such breed.

And, in all honesty, I'm not quite sure yet which way I'd rather see things go. Intriguing...

I concur wholeheartedly! Although the introduction was rather slow, this series has turned into an utterly complelling work of art.

Just as an aside, I'm betting that there's no happy ending

I'm just in awe in how awesome this series is. I agree, this episode's cliffhanger is just...argh, I can't put it into words! I've never got an emotional response out of an anime like I've gotten from Planetes.

I agree with David, I don't there's going to be a happy ending. Especially, after watching this episode.

I'm going with Sanna and David...a happy ending at this point seems like too much of a stretch. Would they kill of Ai? Given "Ai" means love, then wouldn't the allegorical message be: welcome to the future, where love is dead. Boohooo, that would be so depressing ;_;

Hachi turned into such a freak. Very disturbing transformation.